Standards-based solutions were instrumental in the exponential growth of the Internet. For the Smart City, public electrical infrastructure ecosystem to expand, development, application and worker training of interoperability standards is an important strategic foundation from which to grow. This convergence of intelligent transportation systems with the Smart Grid, is allowing the Smart City concept to gain hold in many areas of the US and around the world.

The US Department of Energy Smart Grid Interoperability Program

As stated by The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),

NIST on behalf of the DOE supports one of the key roles in the growth of the Smart Grid—bringing together manufacturers, consumers, energy providers, and regulators to develop interoperable standards. In other words, NIST is responsible for making sure the many pieces of "the world's largest and most complex machine" are able to work together.

Today in the 21st century, then, NIST is ideally suited for its latest assignment. As outlined in the "The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007" (Public Law 110-140, often referred to as "EISA"), NIST has been given "primary responsibility to coordinate development of a framework that includes protocols and model standards for information management to achieve interoperability of Smart Grid devices and systems."

In September 2009, the US DOT NTCIP 1213 ELMS standard was included in the "NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards V1.0," released at the Washington, DC "GridWeek." In 2010, NTCIP 1213 ELMS was hosted on a secure ANSI website for review by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), the Smart Grid Architecture Committee, and other organizations. In February 2012, the ELMS standard was again referenced in the NIST Framework and Roadmap for Smart Grid Interoperability Standards, Release 2.0.

As stated in the Energy Independence & Security Act of 2007,

It is the policy of the United States to support the modernization of the Nation's electricity transmission and distribution system to maintain a reliable and secure electricity infrastructure that can meet future demand growth and to achieve each of the following, which together characterize a Smart Grid:

Increase use of digital controls

Dynamic optimization

Integrate distributed resources

Demand Response

Smart metering

Smart appliances

Storage and peak shaving

Customer control

Communication Standards

Reduce market barriers

The Smart Grid as defined by the US DOR and NIST:

What is Smart Grid interoperability?

Interoperability (the ability of diverse systems and their components to work together) is vitally important to the performance of the Smart Grid at every level. It enables integration, effective cooperation, and two-way communication among the many interconnected elements of the electric power grid. To achieve effective interoperability, we must build a unifying framework of interfaces, protocols, and the other consensus standards.

These standards facilitate useful interactions so that, for example, "smart" appliances and "smart meters" will tell consumers how much power they are using and at what cost, providing them with more control over their power consumption and energy bills. These standards will also encourage the development of the infrastructure that will enable widespread use of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs). Furthermore, widely adopted standards will help utilities to mix and manage varying supplies of solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources and to better respond to changing demand.

In some cases, existing standards may work just fine in the Smart Grid. In other cases, however, new standards must be developed for the new interactions made possible by the Smart Grid.

Who is involved?

Because the Smart Grid will touch so many aspects of life in the 21st century, the development of standards involves a wide range of stakeholders—national and international, private and public, large and small.

In the terminology being used for Smart Grid discussions, each of these seven categories is called a "domain." Within any particular domain, there may be a number of different "stakeholders" The framework being used by NIST to coordinate this effort identifies 22 stakeholder groups, from appliance and consumer electronics providers and municipal electric utility companies to standards-development organizations and state and local regulators.

The ITS NTCIP 1213 ELMS Committee is working closely with the IEEE P2030.1™ committee to assure integration of electric vehicles with the ITS infrastructure.

As described by the IEEE P2030.1™ working group,

This document provides guidelines that can be used by utilities, manufacturers, transportation providers, infrastructure developers and end users of electric-sourced vehicles and related support infrastructure in addressing applications for road-based personal and mass transportation.

This guide provides a knowledge base addressing terminology, methods, equipment, and planning requirements for such transportation and its impacts on commercial and industrial systems including, for example, generation, transmission, and distribution systems of electrical power. It provides a roadmap for users to plan for short, medium, and long-term systems.

The transition to alternative-fuel vehicles, including those that use electricity, is inevitable. Servicing of the limited number of electric vehicles operating today can be absorbed by current generation and distribution capacity. The existence of a few hundred thousand of these vehicles, however, is just the first step in a long-term trend. Preparing for rapid growth in electric vehicle use is necessary since new and upgraded supporting infrastructure, whether charging stations, generating capacity or enhanced transmission systems, requires time for deployment.

To reduce the amount of new generation required and better utilize the existing generation, energy efficiency methods for electric sourced transportation based on an end-to-end systems approach are outlined in this document. Standards that exist and research that is being performed are pointed out in this document. Where new standards are needed, they are also described. This document supports utilities in planning for the economic method of production to support increasing transportation loads.

IEEE P2030.1 allows manufacturers to understand the standardization requirements and bring products to fruition as the supporting systems and methods are developed and standardized, as well as allows end users to understand technologies that can be implemented for their transportation energy needs. A phased implementation is suggested and is based on economic considerations for technologies available today and technologies being developed.

While regional political and regulatory issues may alter these methods, this document does not consider the wide range of regional differences available. It is incumbent on the user of the guide to understand the financial differences that these factors may have on their specific planning requirements.

It is expected that the final IEEE P2030.1™ standard will include support for ELMS NTCIP 1213 technology.

Conclusions

As Michael Chui, Markus Löffler, and Roger Roberts wrote in the March 2010 McKinsey Quarterly:

"...the predictable pathways of information are changing: the physical world itself is becoming a type of information system. In what’s called the Internet of Things, sensors and actuators embedded in physical objects—from roadways to pacemakers—are linked through wired and wireless networks, often using the same Internet Protocol (IP) that connects the Internet. These networks churn out huge volumes of data that flow to computers for analysis. When objects can both sense the environment and communicate, they become tools for understanding complexity and responding to it swiftly. What’s revolutionary in all this is that these physical information systems are now beginning to be deployed, and some of them even work largely without human intervention."

The ecosystem of the public electrical infrastructure is rapidly becoming an "Internet of Things"; no longer is it simply standalone traffic signals and roadway lighting. In the past decades, significant intelligent transportation systems technology has been deployed both at the roadside and at the traffic management center. These deployments are now expanding to include electric vehicle charging systems, vehicle to grid communications and the energy services interface.

Standards-based solutions were instrumental in the exponential growth of the Internet. For the Smart City, public electrical infrastructure ecosystem to expand, development, application and worker training of interoperability standards is an important strategic foundation from which to grow. This convergence of intelligent transportation systems with the Smart Grid, is allowing the Smart City concept to gain hold in many areas of the US and around the world.

Gridaptive Technologies (GT) is a consulting organization to the Intelligent Transportation Systems and Smart Grid technology market sectors. Services include market analysis and strategies, sales channel training, and project management. Products include standards-based, open-protocol components and integrated systems that allow “plug and play” integration into the rapidly developing, interoperable transportation and power systems of the US, while ensuring compliance with Federal US Department of Transportation ITS and Department of Energy Smart Grid standards.

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